1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to light fixtures having an integrated low voltage LED night light for use in residential and commercial bathroom facilities, such as hotels, apartment buildings, and single home dwellings.
2. Description of the State of the Art
Light fixtures have been used to house and support light bulbs for lighting rooms, streets, driveways, sidewalks, bathrooms, offices, and the like. Costs associated with powering light bulbs especially in large buildings and particularly in hotels have risen dramatically due to the cost of energy. Turning off lights in hotel rooms for example would help hotels save on energy costs, but often that cost isn't passed to the consumer. Conversely, the consumer, staying in a hotel room, has an incentive to leave the lights in their room on particularly at night so that they can navigate easily to the bathroom if they need to. This incentive also drives up the cost of a hotel's energy bill. An object of the present invention is to reduce the cost of electricity in hotels and apartment buildings.
Currently, light fixtures have secondary light systems. These secondary light systems are on different power lines, use higher voltage non-LED lights, rely on movement sensors or timers, or do you use logic or circuit boards to receive sequences to determine which light to illuminate.
There are several presently available lighting fixtures with secondary lights. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,149 (the 149' Patent), U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,494 (the 494' Patent), U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,562 (the 562' Patent), U.S. Pat. No. 7,375,476 (the 476' Patent), U.S. Patent Publication No. 2009/0072766 (the 766' Patent Publication), U.S. Pat. No. 7,122,976 (the 976' Patent), and U.S. Pat. No. 7,405,524 (the 524' Patent).
The '149 patent discloses a lighting system with both fluorescent and incandescent lamps, operated by a switch. The systems operate at a lower voltage, dropping the voltage from 120 volt to 115 volt. This is not enough to activate LED lights, which are not part of the disclosed system. Also, this patent does not disclose a circuit board with logic to provide separate electrical power paths, one to an incandescent or fluorescent regular lighting system, and another path to a driver to activate a plurality of LED lights at a lower voltage.
The '494 patent discloses two embodiments of a light fixture having a fluorescent light for room lighting, and a separate sensor activated incandescent night light 156 connected directly to house current 32 (FIG. 9). This patent does not disclose a lower voltage night light, nor an on-off sequence switch to toggle between normal lighting and the night light.
The '562 patent discloses a triac device inserted between the light bulb and the socket for the bulb in a lamp, whereby the lamp can also function as a night light. As seen in FIG. 2, the triac 11 is connected to a low voltage D.C. power supply 14 to control the triac functions. The system has a single bulb B connected to standard AC current, but through the triac. The '562 patent systems includes a wall switch that can rapidly be turned on, off, and on again to change the mode of operation of the triac. You have advised me previously that these types of on-off-on switches are presently available in the market. However, the '562 patent does not disclose, in combination, the operation of separate incandescent and lower voltage LED light sources in a single fixture, operated through a path-separating logic board and a low voltage LED driver.
The '476 patent discloses a lighting circuit for activating fluorescent lamps and an LED array. The LED array is not used as a night light, and a single toggle switch operates one of the other light system. The '476 patent does not disclose a logic board to send electrical energy to either a series of incandescent lights or an LED driver for operating an LED night light array at lower voltage.
The '766 patent publication discloses a lighting system, including a night light mode, using timers and outdoor lighting conditions to change the lighting modes. The '766 publication does not disclose a single fixture for incandescent light and LED lights with a logic board to operate one circuit or the other at different voltages, and an on-off-on switch sequence to control the operation of the night light.
The '976 patent disclosure is similar to the '766 publication disclosure, and discloses motion detection and measured light levels to actuate outdoor lights, including a night light mode, all computer controlled. The '976 patent does not use LED's as an indoor bathroom night light, an electric power supply logic board, nor an on-off-on switch to control the operation of fluorescent lights and an LED light array.
The '524 patent is also similar to the '976 patent and the '766 publication, in that the '524 patent discloses an indoor or outdoor lighting system responsive to measured light levels and detection mode. The '524 system does not use low voltage LED's nor an on-off-on light switch to actuate either the incandescent lights or the LED lights.